“It is said, Master Gotama, ‘The Dhamma is directly visible.’ In what way, Master Gotama, is the Dhamma directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise?”

“When, brahmin, a person is impassioned with lust (or desire for something – Rasika), overwhelmed and infatuated by lust, then he plans for his own harm, for the harm of others, and for the harm of both; and he experiences in his mind suffering and grief. He also behaves badly by body, speech and mind, and he does not understand, as it really is, his own good, or the good of others, or the good of both. But when lust has been abandoned, he neither plans for his own harm, nor for the harm of others, nor for the harm of both; and he does not experience in his mind suffering and grief. He will not behave badly by body, speech and mind, and he will understand, as it really is, his own good, the good of others, and the good of both. In this way, brahmin, the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise.

“When, brahmin, a person is depraved through hatred (or anger), overwhelmed and infatuated by hatred (as above). … When a person is bewildered through delusion (misguided thinking – Rasika), overwhelmed and infatuated by delusion, then he plans for his own harm, for the harm of others, for the harm of both; and he experiences in his mind suffering and grief. He also behaves badly by body, speech and mind, and he does not understand, as it really is, his own good, or the good of others, or the good of both. But when hatred and delusion have been abandoned, he neither plans for his own harm, nor for the harm of others, nor for the harm of both; and he does not experience in his mind suffering and grief. He will not behave badly by body, speech and mind, and he will understand, as it really is, his own good, the good of others, and the good of both. In this way, brahmin, the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, worthy of application, to be personally experienced by the wise.”

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Personally, when I look back over the course of my life and I look at the suffering I have caused myself and caused others, I am not proud. Indeed I am humbled by it. I think a lot of time we ignore the suffering we are causing – both to ourselves and to others. Afterall, it is uncomfortable to think about it, especially when we like to think of ourselves as good people.

Looking at suffering is important because it points us to the causes of suffering:- desire, anger and delusion.

Our meditation practice is not just about entering a peaceful state of mind. More fundamentally it is about giving ourselves a head start to dealing with the causes of suffering. I say a head start because it still requires mindfulness and the development of compassion in our daily lives.

In meditation we put thoughts and seeking at bay. In doing so we give rise to bliss. A bliss that we learn to carry into our lives. Where does this bliss come from? Well, apparently it was always there. We just covered it up with longing and with thoughts.

But bliss is subtle and desires are habitual. So we need to recondition our minds to realising that we have been covering up bliss with desire and aversion. And we need to stay alive to the fact that desire leads to suffering. In other words we need to work on the delusion that desire leads to permanent happiness.

We also need to see that the happiness that comes from attachment to pleasure and aversion to pain actually is fleeting and see the real cause of the happiness when we get what we want is that we have momentarily stopped wanting. And well, that’s partly what our meditation practice is about.

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Thoughts are a medicine and a poison. We drink and drink and drink thought. Drunk by it, poisoned by it, consumed by it. Like alcoholics we need a programme to recover from it. An antidote perhaps. It strikes me that that is the role of the huatou, or koan if you prefer. But what is the sudden awakening?

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How did the illusion arise? Was it with the birth of language? What about reincarnation? Do these questions even really matter?

It strikes me that in meditation the mind is free to relax, to stop its clinging. But that’s just an idea about what meditation is. But maybe that’s why the practise of giving helps because it shows the mind that letting go is OK.

Awake? Released? Undammed? Unfolded? Disentangled? Free.

Where I sit in my office everyday I hear drama. And occasionally I may go home and have my own.

What is it? We like a good story. Even better if our lives are a good story. Fiction reassures us that life possesses a cycle, it reassures us that there is a perfect story. Perhaps we learn to tell our own story better. What is going on? This is me and this is my story.

And what if something doesn’t fit the story? Pain and suffering of the worst kind; a crisis of identity. A change in the that of the I am that, which we proclaim to ourselves and the world around us.

Is this the primary illusion: the drama of our lives? Is liberation the freedom from the story that we are telling ourselves?

I think that’s it. To live in the now takes a crisis of identity, to move from I am that to I am that I am. The missed opportunity results in a new identity, a filling of the vacuum created by the absence. Moving into consciousness results in presence, at peace in emptiness. We impose no drama upon the present. And because we aren’t identified with a story, there is no longer any becoming only being.